By BARRY LEWIS Sports Writer on Dec 3, 2012, at 5:44 PM Updated on 12/03 at 5:58 PM
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It was more than 70 years overdue, but former Tulsa Oilers manager James “Deacon” White was finally elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday.
Also elected by the Veterans Committee, which considered those who began their careers before 1943, were former New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and former umpire Hank O’Day. All three will be inducted posthumously next July 29.
White managed Tulsa to its first pennant when the Oilers captured the Oklahoma-Kansas League title in 1908. A year earlier he managed McAlester in that league.
His contributions to baseball are legendary and its mindboggling how he was overlooked by the Hall of Fame for so long. When he died at age 91 in 1939, the Sporting News reported that White’s death may have been due to the disappointment over not being invited to baseball’s 100th anniversary celebration a month earlier in Cooperstown, N.Y., and having not been among the early Hall of Fame inductees. The Hall was established in 1936.
It was understandable how heartbreaking it must have been for White to have been snubbed by the Hall while seeing others from his era with lesser credentials get voted in such as Candy Cummings, Al Spalding and Buck Ewing, who were all elected in 1939.
White was considered the best barehanded catcher ever and later became a third baseman. He began his pro playing career before the major leagues were established. In 1871, the first major league, the National Association, was formed. White was the first player to bat in a major league game, collected the first hit, the first extra-base hit and was the first to hit into a double play.
He was one of baseball’s first player labor leaders and his actions led to the National League’s formation in 1876. White led the NL in RBIs in its first two seasons. He also led the NL in hits and batting average in 1877 with Boston. White, who helped Detroit win its first pennant in 1887, had a career batting average of .303 from 1876-1890.
As a catcher, he helped create the first chest protector. He also was the first catcher to move up close to the hitter. White and his brother, Will, formed the first major league battery of brothers.
Deacon White got his nickname because unlike most pro ballplayers of his era he regularly attended church, and did not drink, smoke or play poker.
Other former Tulsa Oilers players, coaches or managers in the Hall Fame include Warren Spahn, Frank Robinson, Jesse Haines, Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean, Steve Carlton and Jake Beckley, who managed Tulsa in 1907. The Oilers were Tulsa's pro baseball team before the Drillers, who began in 1977.
-- Barry Lewis
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